Room air conditioner front



Oct. 11, 1966 M. D. ULICH 3,277,663

ROOM AIR CONDITIONER FRONT Filed July 26, 1965 INVENTOR Michael D. Ulichavg/Aw y ATTORNEY United States Patent Filed July 26, 1965, Ser. No.474,597 7 Claims. (Cl. 62-262) This invention relates to a frontstructure for a room air conditioner.

One type of currently favored front arrangement for a room airconditioner includes one or more solid panels presenting finisheddecorative faces. The panelled appearance is considered to be morecompatible with the decor of the room in which the air conditioner isinstalled than a front having a substantial louvered area. Thisinvention is concerned with a front structure of this general character.

One object of the invention is the provision of a front structureincluding releasably-mounted and reversible-face panels arranged in away that the panels contribute to the structural strength of the front,and in which the reversal of the faces of the panels is relativelysimply and easily accomplished.

In accordance with the invention, the front assembly includes anopen-face peripheral frame spaced forwardly of the bottom portion of theroom air conditioner face and provided with a first decorative panelreleasably mounted on the peripheral frame, and an overlapping secondpanel carried for horizontal sliding movement by track means formed inthe upper and lower horizontal members of the frame. As currentlypreferred, the stationary panel is dimensionally generally coextensivein area -with the room air inlet face of the evaporator spaced behindthe fixed panel. The sliding panel is movable from a closure positionhiding the air conditioner controls at the side of the bottom portionroom inlet to an open position giving access to the controls. However,under normal operating conditions the panels will be in a positionentirely hiding the room air inlet and the adjacent controls at thefront face of the air conditioner casing. One face of both panels has adecorative pattern of'one selected character, while the opposite face ofback panels has a different decorative pattern. By removing theindividual panels and reversing their faces, an alternate decorativescheme is made available.

The invention will be described in greater detail in connection with theaccompanying drawing incorporating one embodiment thereof by way ofexample, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of the room air conditioner frontaccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, partly broken elevational view of the rear faceof the front assembly;

'FIG. 3 is an exploded, partly broken, isometric view of a part of therear face of the front showing the manner in which the stationary panelis secured to the upper and lower peripheral frame members;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section corresponding to one taken along the lineIV'IV of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary isometric view of the sliding panel.

Referring to FIG. 1, the casing -12 of the room air conditioner has theconventional rectangular box shape. The front structure is mounted uponthe room-side face of the casing. This room-side face of the casing isgenerally split along a horizontal line into a top portion 1-4 throughwhich conditioned air is discharged into the room and a bottom portion16 of somewhat larger area and into which room air to be conditioned isadmitted. The bottom portion 16 'has most of its area occupied by an iceevaporator 18 with most of the remainder of the area taken up by thecontrols escutche-on 20 at the side of the evaporator.

The front assembly according to the invention is correspondingly dividedby the member 30 into an upper portion 22 and a lower portion generallydesignated 24. The upper portion includes a series of horizontallyadjustable vanes 26 for controlling the horizontal pattern of the airbeing discharged therethrough, and a tiltable deflector 28 which may beswung from the vertical position illustrated in FIG. 1 to a horizontalposition underlying the vanes 26. The deflector carries a panel insert(also designated 28) which preferably has opposite faces carryingdecorative patterns which correspond with the decorative patterns of thepanels of the lower portion and may be reversed for obtaining a visualmatch. The arrangement of the upper portion of the front assembly isdealt with in copending Wegman patent application Serial No. 474,615 andSchwartz patent application Serial No. 474,614, both assigned to thesame assignee as this invention.

The bottom portion 24 of the front assembly includes means forming agenerally rectangular, open-face, peripheral frame defined at the topand bottom by the horizontal members 30 and 32, and at the sides byvertically extending left and right members 34 and 36, respectively. Theassembly has appreciable depth so that the panel supporting part of theframe is spaced in front of the casing enough to permit the required airflow into the cas ing without undue resistance. To accommodate this airflow the right member 36 includes a number of verticallyspaced openings38 generally cor-responding to the height of the evaporator, and thebottom wall includes similar openings 40 for the width of theevaporator. These openings admit room air to be conditioned into thespace in front of the evaporator and permit the use of the imperforatedecorator front panels 42 and 44 carried by the peripheral frame.

These panels 42 and 44 are carried in overlapping relation by theperipheral frame and together cover a rectangular area which isgenerally dimensionally coextensive with the rectangular area of thebottom portion 16 of the casing front face. The stationary panel 42 isrectangular and is secured in a vertical plane slightly rearwardly ofthe vertical plane through which the overlapping sliding panel ismovable. The panel 44 may be moved to the right from its position shownin FIG. 1 to give access to the controls 20.

Turning to FIGS. 2-4 for details of the structure, it will be seen inFIG. 3 that the top horizontal member 30 is T-shaped in cross sectionand includes a vertical bar 46 and horizontal stem or flange 48. Thebottom horizontal member 32 also includes a generally T-shaped upperpart comprising vertical bar 50 and horizontal stem or flange 52. Thestationary panel 42 is seated with its top and bottom margins againstthe rear edge of the horizontal lflanges 48 and 52. Both the top andbottom horizontal members 30 and 32 of the peripheral frame are providedwith rearwardly projecting locating pins 54 of a somewhat flattenedcharacter in cross-section, and alternating locating and securing posts56. The flattened locating pins 54 are received by the horizontal slots58' provided along the top and bottom margins of the panel 42 inlocations to register with the locating pins 54 regardless of whetherone face orthe opposite face of the panel 42 is presented to the room.Likewise, openings 60 register with the securing posts 56. Thumb screws62 and rectangular washers '64 are provided to secure the panel 42against the generally rear face of the peripheral frame by simplyturning the screws into the posts.

9 Referring now particularly to FIG. 2, the upright divider 66 which ismolded as an integral part of the frame 'is located to register with thedividing line between the side-by-side room air inlet 18 and the controlescutcheon 20. The divider includes a rearwardly-oifset lip 68 whichprojects toward the evaporator side to overlap the one vertical edge ofthe stationary panel 42. The upright divider 66 not only secures the onevertical edge of panel 42 and stiifens the frame, but also serves as astop for the sliding panel (as will later be explained), and hidden whenthe sliding panel 44 is in installed position so as to not detract fromthe appearance of the front.

The upper track means for the sliding panel 4'4 is formed by the insidecorner 70 below stem 48. The bottom track means is formed by insidecorner 72 above stern 52. The cross sectional shape of the frame membersforming these tracks extend for substantially'the full width of thefront assembly. Thus, since the fixed panel 42 seats against the rearedge of the horizontal flanges 48 and 52, clearance for the slidingpanel 44 is available along the front of the fixed panel.

To facilitate sliding the panel 44, the left edge of the panel (asviewed in FIG. 1) is provided with a grip 74 1 and 5) having oppositelyprojecting flanges thereon. The fonwardly projecting flange may begrasped by the air conditioner user to slide the panel to the side. Thethen rearward-1y projecting flange serves as a stop which abuts theupright divider 66 limiting the opening of the panel 44 to a positiononly permitting access to the control panel.

In accordance with the invention, both panels 42 and 44 have one faceprovided with one selected decorative pattern, such as a wood grainpattern, while the opposite face of each of these panels has a differentselected decorative pattern, such as a fabric (as indicated in FIG. 2),or a different type of wood grain pattern. Thus, if the user of the airconditioner desires the one pattern rather than the other, the faces ofboth panels may be reversed. In the case of the fixed panel, thereversal is accomplished by simply removing the thumb screws 62 (afterthe front assembly as a whole is removed from its normally operativeposition on the front face of the room air conditioner casing), andturning the panel end for end, or top for bottom and turning thesescrews back in. The sliding panel 44 is removed by simply lifting itupwardly so that its bottom edge clears the bottom track, as is aconventional arrangement with most sliding doors, and then turning ittop for bottom.

It will be apparent from FIGURE 2 that by arranging the securing postsand locating pins in a symmetrical array, and the cutouts and openingsaccordingly in the top and bottom margins of the fixed panel, thedesired registry of these elements is obtained in the face reversals.

When the fixed panel is in place, it contributes substantial rigidity tothe front assembly as a whole, and this permits the front assembly to befabricated of a relatively lightweight molded plastic member.

I claim as my invention:

1. A room air conditioner including:

a casing with a room side face including a lower portion mountingevaporator means and control means;

a peripheral frame spaced forwardly from said bottom portion andgenerally coextensive in area with said bottom portion;

a pair of decorator panels carried by said frame;

means stationarily securing one of said panels generally forwardly ofsaid evaporator means; and track means on said frame for carrying theother of said panels for horizontal sliding movement to selectivelycover and uncover said control means. 2. A room air conditioneraccording to claim 1 where said stationary one of said panels isdimensionally coextensive in an area with the inlet face area of saidevaporator and is secured in a plane rearwardly of the plane throughwhich said sliding panel is movable.

3. An air conditioner according to claim 1 wherein:

both of said panels include one face having one selected decorativepattern and the opposite face of each panel has another selecteddecorative pattern.

4. An air conditioner according to claim 1 wherein:

said peripheral frame includes rearwardly-projecting locating pinssymmetrically arranged along its top and bottom members; and

said stationary panel includes registering cutout portions along itsupper and lower marginal edges receiving said pins irrespective of whichface of said stationary panel abuts said frame.

S. In a room air conditioner:

a casing having a room-side face including a lower portion presenting,in side-by-side relation, an air conditioner control panel and anevaporator inlet face occupying, respectively, minor and major parts ofsaid lower portion area;

a front assembly for said room-side face, said front assembly includingmeans forming an open-face peripheral frame dimensionally generallycoextensive with said lower portion and spaced forwardly therefrom;

a first panel dimensionally generally coextensive in area with the areaof said evaporator inlet face;

means stationarily securing said first panel to said peripheral frameforwardly of said evaporator inlet face;

said peripheral frame including top and bottom members havinghorizontal-extending track means formed therein; and

a second panel supported by said track means, said second panel beinghorizontally slidable from a closure position blocking a view of saidcontrol panel, to an open position permitting access to control panel.

6. An air conditioner according to claim 5 including:

both said first and said second panels include one selected pattern onone face thereof, and a different selected pattern on their oppositefaces.

7. An air conditioner according to claim 6 wherein:

said securing means for said first panel includes rearwardly-projeoting, symmetrically-arranged, locating pins on the top andbottom members of said frame; and

said first panel includes correspondingly arrayedcutouts along the topand bottom margins thereof for receiving said pins irrespective of whichface if forw-ardly presented.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,920,460 1/ 1960Atchison 62-262 3,159,983 12/ 1964 Metcalfe 62262 3,165,053 1/1965Christie 6=2--262 WILLIAM J. WYE, Primary Examiner.

1. A ROOM AIR CONDITIONER INCLUDING: A CASING WITH A ROOM SIDE FACEINCLUDING A LOWER PORTION MOUNTING EVAPORATOR MEANS AND CONTROL MEANS; APERIPHERAL FRAME SPACED FORWARDLY FROM SAID BOTTOM PORTION AND GENERALLYCOEXTENSIVE IN AREA WITH SAID BOTTOM PORTION; A PAIR OF DECORATOR PANELCARRIED BY SAID FRAME; MEANS STATIONARILY SECURING ONE OF SAID PANELSGENERALLY FORWARDLY OF SAID EVAPORATOR MEANS; AND TRACK MEANS ON SAIDFRAME FOR CARRYING THE OTHER OF SAID PANELS FOR HORIZONTAL SLIDINGMOVEMENT TO SELECTIVELY COVER AND UNCOVER SAID CONTROL MEANS.